The present invention relates generally to ammunition storage and more particularly to a lightweight magazine for storing ammunition rounds which is capable of transporting such stored ammunition rounds within the magazine to an exit port therein, such transport being relatively independent of magazine orientation. Further, the present invention enables the storage of ammunition rounds without the use of links, or the like, for connecting the ammunition rounds to each other.
Modern automatic weapons are capable of very high firing rates and consequently require on-hand storage of a great deal of ammunition in order to utilize this firepower over an average mission.
This problem is particularly acute for airborne weapons where space and weight is a critical factor. In addition, ammunition magazines available for use with aircraft weapons must be operable in any orientation as the aircraft needs to be capable of using its weapons during heavy maneuvering.
It is evident that if ammunition rounds are not made available to the gun feeding system at a reliable rate corresponding to the gun firing rate, gun timing may be disrupted, possibly causing gun malfunction.
Even though modern automatic guns have a high rate of fire, the ammunition rounds are typically fired one at a time and hence such guns require that rounds be fed to the gun, and removed from storage in a magazine, one at a time at the gun firing rate.
In many applications, such as aboard aircraft, particularly helicopters, ammunition storage is remote to the weapon. In addition, available space for ammunition storage even aboard ships, tanks and the like, limits the quantity of ammunition that can be stored if such ammunition must be held in a single tier or file even if such a "belt or chain" of ammunition is serpentined within a confined storage compartment or magazine.
If the ammunition rounds are held in a plurality of tiers, one tier above another within a magazine, a greater number of ammunition rounds may be held within a storage area having dimensions equal to or greater than the height of one ammunition round.
However, if a number of serpentined belts of ammunition are stored in multiple tiers, they must be separated to avoid entanglement with each other. Panels or partitions for separating the ammunition tiers are undesirable because of the non-payload weight they add to the magazine, and the space required for them.
Of particular interest is U.S. Pat. No. 2,489,428 issued to N. E. Mariner which shows a magazine for storing individual ammunition rounds in a serpentined fashion to facilitate the storage of a large number of ammunition rounds in a confined space. However, if a number of tiers of ammunition are to be stored utilizing a magazine according to the Mariner Patent, the magazines themselves must be stacked thus providing partitions for separating the ammunition tiers. Further, it is apparent from the Mariner Patent that the magazines would not be operable if stacked directly on one another.
Drum-type magazines have been used to store linkless ammunition for rapid fire automatic weapons, however, they are limited to their ability to provide high storage density in many envelopes because they are generally constrained to the shape of a right circular cylinder having a diameter determined, in part, by the size and shape of the ammunition.
The present invention provides a lightweight ammunition magazine capable of storing a plurality of "tiers" of ammunition within a single magazine without the use of space consuming separating partitions between the tiers which otherwise add to the non-payload weight of the magazine. Further, the ammunition rounds are held within the magazine and transported therein without the use of links for holding the ammunition together in a belt-like fashion. Because of the manner in which the ammunition rounds are held and transported within the magazine sliding frictional engagement between the rounds and internal portions of the magazine are substantially reduced or eliminated regardless of magazine orientation, and hence less power is required to accelerate and move the ammunition rounds within the magazine.
This feature enables the magazine of the present invention to supply ammunition rounds to a gun or feeder system at a steady rate which is independent of magazine orientation. In addition, the magazine may be configured to densely package ammunition rounds in generally any available space.